Almost all of us remember what it’s like to try to study for a test and actually retain the information we read long enough to make it to the exam room.  Students have been given all kinds of advice over the years to help them in their quest for that elusive A, but now scientists in Germany believe they have come up with a nasal spray that seems to do the trick.

According to their recently published study, researchers from the University of Lubeck, led by Lisa Marshall, have invented a nasal spray formulated with interleukin -6, a naturally occurring molecule that was previously known only for its positive role in the body’s immune system.

Interleukins are a group of proteins that are produced naturally in the body by the white blood cells, and according to scientists they help regulate various immune responses. Synthetically created interleukins are often used in various cancer therapies. But it was previously unknown that they may have an effect on memory.

To test their memory enhancing nasal spray the scientists enlisted the help of 17 local students. The students were read emotionally charged “bedtime stories” before being asked to try the nasal spray before nodding off to sleep. Half received a placebo spray and half the interleukin 6 formulation.

Early the next morning, after all involved had experienced a good night’s sleep, monitored by various MRI and brain imaging techniques,  the students were asked to remember as many words from the previous evening’s story as they could and write them down.

Those who had been given the interleukin 6 spray demonstrated recall that was better than the placebo group overall. The test ran for two nights in all, and the results were similar on both occasions.

It has been demonstrated for years, and over the course of countless studies, that sleep itself aids memory in general, but in this study all the participants had a very similar amount of sleep to one another, demonstrating, the researchers feel, the potential of their IL-6 spray.

The study was published in a print edition of the scholarly journal The FASEB Journal, whose editor in chief Dr Gerald Weissman was excited by the researchers’ findings. “If a nasal spray can improve memory, perhaps we’re on our way to giving some folks a whiff of common sense, such as accepting the realities of evolution, “he said.